Go Set a Fisherman
by Narwhal Lord
Summary: There is a Gameskeeper at Garreg Mach Monastery. He is not an important man, but he keeps running into important people. A series of disjointed oneshots featuring the Gameskeeper and assorted characters.
1. First Cast

Noon peered down weathered walls and cobbled paths, casting brilliant light that scattered across every surface. The air was thick and heady, breezes blocked by broad walls, and any sane person would have long sought respite with the black-clad youths that clustered inside. The main halls were empty, and the market silenced by the dull buzz of boredom and bugs.

The scholars and professors of this esteemed castle, this Garreg Mach Monastery, felt it wise to grant this day to their students. The semester had not yet begun, and the house leaders were away on a simple mission. It became a quiet day, a day of rest before their education began in earnest.

For the Gamekeeper of Garreg Mach, it was an excellent opportunity to go fishing in the pond.

It was always a good day to go fishing in the pond.

{}{}{}{}{}

_Stomp stomp stomp_ _thud_

The Gamekeeper, who had placed a straw hat over his eyes to protect them from the Sun, grunted. "Only one person stomps like that on my docks."

That one person grunted noncommittally. "And how would you know that? I have never visited the fishing pond."

"Seteth, then," the Gamekeeper nodded, a jerky and awkward motion shaped to prevent the hat from moving too much, "Fishing isn't great today. Come back tomorrow."

"_You_-" Seteth let out a sigh. "No matter. If you want to keep your job, pointless as it may be, you have an appointment with Lady Rhea tomorrow at noon."

"Oh, so this is business," the Gamekeeper mumbled, sitting up and fixing his hat on his head. "Is this about the boat?"

Now that he could see Seteth, he decided this wasn't about the boat, but he'd already asked and he couldn't really do much about it. Dressed in his immaculate robes of the Church of Seiros, he looked quite out of place on the rough wooden dock. It was debatable that the man even knew how to _fish_.

Seteth pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out his second sigh of the conversation, before looking long and hard at the boat. "Clovis," he said flatly, "This pond is not large enough for a boat."

Clovis frowned, looking down at the boat he was in before shrugging. "So it _is_ about the boat. I had you all wrong. It's definitely large enough for a boat, though. I can tell because I'm in the boat, you see."

"Where did you even-" the green-haired man narrowed his eyes, "We're on a _mountain_, Clovis."

Once again, Clovis gestured at the pond. "We also have a pond."

Seteth threw up his hands and turned to walk away. "Why did Lady Rhea even _hire _you? She is usually more reasonable than this."

Clovis shrugged, laying back down in his boat. "Maybe she just had a good feeling about me or something. I'll have to ask her tomorrow."

"During your appointment, hopefully?"

Nodding sagely, Clovis fiddled with his fishing rod. "Of course. Can't forget about the appointment at... breakfast, right?"

This time, Seteth stormed away, stomping on the dock as he went. "I'm going to speak to someone more reasonable now, thank you very much."

Not quite sure what he meant, Clovis waved before returning to his important work of napping.

{}{}{}{}{}

_Stomp stomp stomp thud_

The dock rattled slightly, sending ripples through the water. Clovis watched them for a moment before shrugging. "Only one person stomps like that on my docks."

"Clovis, I-" Seteth paused, conveniently having spoken just enough for Clovis to figure out who it was. "Do you just say that to _everyone_?"

"No, just the ones that stomp on my docks."

There was a pause, and Clovis swished his fishing line through the water. He swung his legs, wondering if there was something he should be doing right now.

Seteth sat down next to him with a _thud_, hands tight against the wood of the dock. "Lady Rhea hired a new professor today."

"Ah. Who was it?"

"Some mercenary called Byleth."

Clovis tilted his head. "Never heard of 'em. They from the Empire?"

"No. We know almost nothing about him, and he has no qualifications other than being good with a sword." He punctuated his statement by rapping his fingers quite violently against the deck.

"That seems unreasonable, if you ask me."

Giving Clovis a long, hard look, Seteth nodded. "Do you have any extra space in that boat of yours?"

{}{}{}{}{}

**Author's Note:**

Welcome to 'Go Set a Fisherman', a series(?) of oneshots set in Fódlan to keep my creativity from running away from me. These will crop up whenever I'm stumped on ATWAS for a bit, or if I just need to write something related to Three Houses so I can get back to working on other things.

Anyways, enjoy.

Cheers,

Narwhal Lord


	2. Catch of the Day

It was not often that one of Byleth's students was late for class.

_Tap, tap_.

Toying with his quill- a rather nice present from Professor Hanneman- he frowned. Hesitantly, he marked Claude _absent_. "Hmm."

"Maybe he ditched," a youthful voice said, drifting in from the corner, "He was drawing up _something_ in his notes yesterday."

Subtly shaking his head, he marked Sothis as _present, regretfully_.

He put his quill down and looked back up at his class, finding everyone else present and ready. Not meeting his eyes, but that was nothing new. Jeralt did say he stared just a little bit too intensely, and maybe he should tone it down.

"Where is Claude?" he asked flatly, scanning the students once again. "Is he sick today?"

"Um, I'm not sure, Professor," Marianne hedged, looking just the usual amount of tired, "He seemed fine yesterday."

"We should go look for him!" Hilda perked up, nearly sweeping her notes off her desk for the third time this week. "I'll go check his dorm, if you want."

"She went to the market last time you let her do that," Sothis sang, now lounging in Byleth's chair. "I say let her. If she doesn't want to learn, she won't. Oh, now it's the short one's turn to complain, isn't it?"

Byleth hummed, resisting the urge to call Sothis short as well. She was at the very least correct about how mornings usually went. Also, the last time he called her short, she spent the rest of the day reading people's notes aloud during class.

Lysithea huffed, tossing a tuft of white hair out of her face as she leaned back. "Let's just get class started. If he wants to be immature, let him."

"It is not often that one of my students is late for class," Byleth decided, turning to face the board. "But I won't hold up class for him. Turn to page seventy eight of your texts, please."

The doors to the classroom swung open with a _WHAM_, sending Sothis straight through the ceiling and Lysithea under the table. Marianne looked slightly more frayed than usual, if that was possible, and Lorenz muttered something about propriety.

A tall man in a straw hat and fairly bland working clothes tromped in, tracking water with each clatter of his sandals. Clovis, Byleth recalled- the Gamekeeper. He fed the cats or something.

"That's Clovis," Sothis said helpfully as she floated back through the ceiling, looking quite irritable, "He feeds the cats or something- why is Claude soaking wet?"

Indeed he was, Byleth mused. Claude waved cheerfully as he dangled in Clovis' one-armed grip. "Sup, Teach. Am I late?"

"Do I-" Byleth started, pulling out his quill, "You know what, no, I do not want to know. Take a seat, Claude."

"Found him under the dock, looking for frogs," Clovis grumbled, "Those are _my_ frogs." Depositing the future leader of the Alliance in his seat, he trudged out.

Claude leaned forward, making for a stage-whisper. "Hey, Teach. Want a frog?"

Byleth was the Ashen Demon. He did not sigh, and he did not put his hand to his face when people did strange things. He was the doer of strange things, after all.

Sothis, being Sothis, did both at the same time. He felt a bit jealous.

{}{}{}{}{}

**Author's Notes**

Go Set a Fisherman is small in scope, and I fully intend to make it entirely Slice of Life, such as this. Clovis isn't a very complicated man, so more often than not, he's not the focus of the story.

More importantly to you guys- I'll try and do one of these every few days, with one guaranteed to be published this weekend. It helps me decompress and think about my other story, ATWAS.

Cheers,

Narwhal Lord


End file.
